This city of close to 3,200 residents was started and founded when the St. Louis Southwestern Railway company put down rails in this area. Thirty-Four Corner Blue Hole, a few miles East of East Prairie forms a small lake with fish and a boat ramp. This is from time to time a good area for bird watching. Big Oak Tree State park still appears as it did to the first visitors to the area. There are towering hickory trees and oaks, some more than 120 feet in height here. For visitors there are places to see wildlife, picnic sites and shelters, a self-guided boardwalk trail and an interpretive center where you can discover the story of this rich landscape. Towosaghy State Historic Site is what remains of a fortified village and civil-ceremonial center for the people who lived in southern Missouri between A.D. 1000 and 1400. If you go there you will see mounds that are remnants of the site’s past activities and exhibit panels with the story of Towosahgy told through archaeological excavations.

Judges

Hon. Rob Barker